Minnesota Recruiting Update: April 28

It was another relatively quiet recruiting week for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, as there are only two stories of note. No gigantic splashes were made, but the Golden Gophers did extend a new scholarship offer, and also had an incoming freshman receive some national attention. As I said, it was another quiet week, but let’s dig a little deeper into both of Minnesota’s recruiting stories.

Minnesota offers Jake Forrester

For the most part, the Golden Gophers’ 2017 recruiting class is all set. Barring any last-minute pickups, there won’t be much more to report on for this year’s incoming class. So with that, it’s time to move on to the 2018 class.

The Golden Gophers took a step in the right direction by offering four-star power forward Jake Forrester on Monday. The announcement was reported via Twitter by Andrew Slater of 247Sports.

A Pennsylvania-native, Forrester is listed at 6-foot-8 and 200 pounds. He is currently the No. 3 overall recruit in-state and No. 25 among all power forwards. Recently, Forester has gained a lot of attention nationwide and has received three separate scholarship offers in the past week. He now holds offers from 16 different schools, including Penn State, Indiana, Miami (FL), Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt. Based on the 247Sports projections, Penn State is the current favorite to land his talents but it is still early in the recruiting process.

Minnesota currently has only one commit for the class of 2018 with Daniel Oturu. Like Forrester, Oturu is also a top-three recruit in his state (Minnesota) and is also a four-star power forward. In addition to Oturu, the Golden Gophers also added another big man in Louisville transfer Matz Stockman. Per transfer rules, Stockman will sit out next season before debuting alongside Oturu in 2018-19. With two quality bigs coming in, the addition of Forrester isn’t something that is a must for Minnesota. However, talent is always welcome and he would certainly be a nice addition since so many big men are departing after this upcoming season.

Isaiah Washington to play in Ballislife All-American Game

The 2017 Ballislife All-American Game rosters were announced this past week and Minnesota will be represented in the game by 2017 commit Isaiah Washington.

This year’s game will take place on May 6th at Long Beach City College and will feature a number of big-time talent. Washington will join Michigan State commit Jaren Jackson Jr. as the only incoming Big Ten players participating in the game.

Obviously, the Ballislife All-American Game isn’t on the level of the McDonald’s All-American Game or Jordan Brand Classic but is still an impressive honor for Washington. The 6-foot, 162-pound point guard will be going up against players who have committed to monster programs such as UCLA, Kentucky, North Carolina and Kansas.

It’ll be fun and interesting to see how well Washington does on this kind of stage. He is the Golden Gophers’ top incoming freshman so we’ll get an early look at what the future will hold through this game.

Click here to see the entire 2017 Ballislife All-American Game roster.